The Severed Revenge
by Fyrshi
Summary: It has been many years since Celty has been with her head, and needless to say, her head is sick and tired of being mistreated and misused by Izaya, its current master. Her head's ensuing efforts to become reunited with her body, though, are nothing short of nightmarish... [Songfic; AU; Rated M for gore/insanity etc.]
1. Alice, Dreaming

**A/N: **I'm not quite sure how I should go about explaining this story; it appeared on a whim and decided to stay. I probably should mention that this is a songfic inspired by a cute song, 'Alice Human Sacrifice' (which is sung by MEIKO, KAITO, Hatsune Miku and the Kagamine Twins from Vocaloid), and that this is a story that is neither heartwarming nor fluffy in any respect. I will attempt to finish this and upload it as soon as possible so that this does not interfere with my other fanfics, but I will still pay the same amount of attention to this one as I do with my other stories. Anyhow, all will be explained in the disclaimer/warning below:

**WARNING: **This story is rated M for excessive gore, mental insanity and disturbing imagery (in later chapters). Please do not read if you will be disturbed.  
**DISCLAIMER: **The _Durarara! _series and the song _Alice Human Sacrifice_ do not belong to me; they probably never will either...  
**NOTE: **The lyrics attached to the fanfiction are inspired by various sources, but are ultimately mine; please do not use them without permission

* * *

**The Night Before: Alice, Dreaming**

_How long had she been separated from her body? She couldn't even tell anymore._

_She could still remember the days when her whole being had traversed the Irish countryside, pulling over at the houses of the dead and ferrying the departed souls off to their final resting place. Perhaps her punishment for missing a few bodies had caused this, or maybe it was her leniency with the crazed relatives who refused to let her take them away; instead of killing them or splashing blood in their faces, as her code dictated, she only guided them down the path of insanity so they'd have no recollection of her. She had always been a bit clumsy- she could admit that much about herself, at least- but she knew that she didn't deserve the darkness that she was currently plunged in._

_The darkness had begun when a strange cloth bag had been thrown around her; flinging her eyes open in shock, she began to call out for her now-headless body, but to no avail. It didn't take her long to figure out that the person who'd kidnapped her definitely knew of her existence and her ability to telepathically communicate with her body, as the fabric (as she had assumed) denied her the ability to summon her other half to herself. Thus she had resigned her disembodied appendage to the darkness and slept, but for how long she'd drifted in and out of consciousness still eludes her._

_All that she knows is that she is not whole, and that her other half is in agony, incomplete without her._

_When she had finally awoken and found herself out of her prison, she'd immediately tried to summon her body, but she couldn't at all. What had they done to her so she could only 'see' her body, but not be with it? Perhaps the relatives of the dead had finally slipped out of insanity and taken revenge on her, and she guessed that she deserved it- hence her obedience in keeping still so they could prod at her with funny cold objects. However, as an infinite amount of time continued to pass, and she still wasn't released, then she began to worry, and when she sensed that nobody was near, she opened her eyes for the first time in a long time._

_What she saw puzzled her, because this was nothing like she'd ever seen. Instead of the rolling hills of Ireland or the homely abodes of the people whose souls she reaped, she was inside a strangely dark and polished area where funny multi-coloured blocks moved down below. Staring in slight wonder and complete confusion at the sights below, she'd snapped her eyes shut moments later when she sensed someone entering her space, and it was with growing horror that she listened to what the person had to say._

_The male (because, even with such girly inflections, this person was definitely not a girl) began talking to her, almost as if he thought she was alive- which, technically, she wasn't. He started by talking about wars, the most destructive and busy times for her (due to all the souls that she had to reap), and then about immortality, which she didn't much care for- after all, who cared about having to stay in such a fleeting world for more than their lifetime? But when she'd finally pieced together what he had to say… when she realized that he wanted her to 'wake up' after his war so she could grant him immortality… the negativity that she'd carefully kept away burst forth in a raging torrent._

_Angry at this human's callous ignorance for life, she had endeavoured to find out what she could do in her current state. Experimenting while the nefarious man was too far away to sense her actual state of consciousness, she found that she couldn't do anything she used to be able to, like summon her body to herself and merge to become the supernatural being that she was. As a head suspended in a strange liquid inside an unbreakable jar, she really couldn't do anything physical. What she _could_ do, though, was surprising to her._

_It seemed as if… she could still manipulate other's minds._

_And with that knowledge, she began to formulate her plan of revenge._

_She was going to make that man pay for messing with her, and then she was going to go back home._

* * *

Frowning lightly as he stared at the inanimate object floating in his line of sight, Izaya sighed quietly to himself before reaching for the large, liquid-filled canister. Placing it on his table and staring resolutely at the closed eyes of the severed head, the informant wondered as to how long it'd take for him to gain immortality from his strange artefact.

Shingen Kishitani, the father of one of his former classmates (a strange guy by the name of Shinra), had arrived at his door a long while ago with the very same canister in his hands. Rambling on about life, Dullahans and science experiments, the man had dumped the canister into his surprised arms before disappearing as suddenly as he'd arrived. Frowning to himself as he'd examined the brunette stuck inside his jar, he'd shrugged to himself before researching on the severed heads of Dullahans, as he'd gathered the object to be.

What he'd found was nothing short of extraordinary; apparently, according to Irish mythology*, the severed head of a Dullahan would awaken in times of fierce battles and its master was granted any wish, which could include immortality, infinite wealth, or whatever else the person so wished; however, the person would have to relate their wish in less than a minute, else the head's power waned and the Dullahan went back to sleep. Of course, Izaya knew exactly what he wanted- the only problem now was waking up the head.

Growing bored and tired of staring at the unmoving head, the information broker patted the canister with a strange sort of fondness before tucking it away in its hiding position. Yawning widely to himself before stumbling off to bed, he wondered what the new day would bring before sleep enticed him into its wonderfully mild depths. Of course, he was too tired to notice that there was something strange about the rapidity in which he managed to drift off to sleep, but he didn't think he cared all that much.

It was normally a good sign for the informant when he was able to sleep without trouble.

…Well, 'normally' being the key word.

* * *

An eerie, disembodied voice floated through Ikebukuro, audible to only a select few. As those who could hear its haunting lilt shivered at the sound, the rest of the population continued on their lives, oblivious to what was about to occur…

_Somewhere, there was a tiny dream  
__It was such a tiny dream  
__That no-one knew who had dreamt it up  
__The tiny dream began to think:  
_"_I don't want to disappear this way  
__How can I make people think of me?"  
__The tiny dream thought and thought  
__And came up with an idea  
_"_I'll make humans get lost in me…  
_…_and let them create the world"_

* * *

**_*Footnote:_**_ I do not know if the Irish Mythology Izaya is referring to is true here, because it surely doesn't appear anywhere on the internet or in books related to this subject. Unfortunately, this means that it could probably be fake... so please don't take my story's word on that particular figment of my imagination.__  
_


	2. Alice, Of Spades

_**EDIT:** For those that might be confused, the left-italics are Izaya's waking moments and reality in general, centered-italics are song lyrics (made by me), left-text is the dream Izaya has, and centered-text is a newspaper article (depicting the truth behind the dream)..._

* * *

**The First Night: Alice, Of Spades**

_A heavy weight seemed to settle on his frame as he lay in his large, mostly-empty bed. Unconsciously clenching his hands and curling them into fists, the black-clad male frowned momentarily, before he drifted off fully into the dream that rushed to meet him. He knew it was a dream because he would never be able to fly around Ikebukuro (which, given the chance, he'd love to try), and he certainly knew it was so because the moon looked peculiar._

_It was a strange colour. Undoubtedly, it was a nice colour, but it was still quite strange._

_After all, moons did not glow grass-green in the real world._

* * *

He didn't know how long he'd passed out on the pavement, but by the time he came to, Shizuo was confused at how late it seemed.

Being a person who normally slept early, the fake blonde would never be around to see the city when it was truly asleep, but he guessed that there was always a first time for everything. Rubbing his sore head and yawning lightly as he slowly stood up from his position on the concrete, mocha-coloured eyes scanned the surrounding area for anything suspicious, just in case. By the time he was done looking around, though, he could conclude that nothing was wrong, apart from his evidently strange position and the eerie silence that his city was currently in.

However, before he could head on home and have a good night's rest, a flicker in his periphery caught his eye and, with a low growl working its way through his windpipe, the fortissimo of Ikebukuro spun around rapidly. Allowing the growl to rip out into a half-roar when he realized that the movement had come from the most annoying person he knew, he ripped out a lamp-post standing innocently by before hurling the makeshift javelin at his archenemy. Roaring furiously as he saw that he had missed his target, he uprooted a large 'STOP' sign before shouting deafeningly:

"IIIIIIIIZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU DAMMIT!"

As he continued to run after his arch-nemesis with his blood pounding in his ears, the angry debt collector failed to notice the encroaching shadows that stretched around him. Keeping his eyes solely on his target, and refusing to let his mind wander from the infuriating flea in front of him, it thus came to be that he found himself in the local park, with his prey edged into a copse of trees. With a predatory grin and a dangerous flash of his eyes, the tall Japanese man stalked towards his trapped victim… before he suddenly stopped in his tracks from utter confusion.

The flea… had somehow disappeared, vanishing into the air as if… he were never there to begin with.

Blinking uncomprehendingly at the empty spot in which he swore Izaya had just been standing, the former bartender could not seem to get around the fact that the flea was just… not there. Shaking his head from side to side and muttering profanities under his breath, he turned to leave and just go back home, but unfortunately for him, he was unable to go home due to the new obstacle that stood in his path. Being too engrossed in his chase of his mortal enemy, and thus unaware of the shadows that had been encircling his form, he had only realized that he was caught in an ambush when a dark figure approached him, gleaming knife in hand.

Angry at his blindness and the arrogance he could see in the thug's stance, the short-tempered man raised his traffic sign into the air in a show of defiance, before charging to his new target. Grinning triumphantly as he managed to slice the man's head with his metal sign, he ignored the dead body as a fountain of pungent red liquid poured over his hands, before he frowned at the mess now on his shirt. Growling at the scarlet stain on his sleeves and stepping straight into the soft mush of brains that the thug leaked out from his open head, he swung his sign around and, with a string of squelchy noises emitting from the bloody organ under his shoes, he decapitated and gutted the next few thugs approaching him.

He really didn't mean to kill them, truly he didn't… but it felt so _good_ to vent his anger on these faceless targets.

And it wasn't as if anyone would care… so long as he cleaned up the mess that he'd invariably make after his anger had dissipated.

Under the observant eye of the silent moon above, the monster of Ikebukuro continued to slaughter the dark figures littered around him; when the metal sign was bent beyond repair and it was no longer useful as a weapon, he threw the sign away before uprooting a bench and using that to club the people to death. Within a matter of minutes, and with a few broken benches scattered around his form, the beast-like man stood alone in the wooded circle, surrounded by the gory bodies of those he'd slain in his fury.

Immediately after he diagnosed his lonely position inside the park, the fake blonde felt a wave of remorse wash over him at the sight of his soaked clothes; he hadn't meant to dirty his brother's present to him with the filthy blood of his prey, but there was nothing that he could do about it. Wringing out as much of the coppery liquid as he could from his clothing, he sighed at the bitter smell assaulting his nose, before he regretfully placed his clothes back on again and surveyed the growing pool of blood around his lone figure.

He hadn't realized the extent of his destruction while he'd been consumed by anger, but now that he was a little calmer and in control of his mind, Shizuo could clearly see the entrails and severed heads lying around him, as well as the odd disembodied limb and the frequent puddle of blood. Hissing at the extent to which the woody copse was littered with his fury-fuelled rampage, he decided that he'd leave everything as it was and go back to take a shower first- because, man, did he smell bad. Wrinkling his nose at the sharp odour assailing his olfactory system, he turned to leave… but didn't see an exit.

That was odd… the only entrance/exit wasn't where it was before.

And now that he looked around some more, he couldn't see the opening _anywhere_.

Widening his eyes, partly in anxiety and partly in annoyance, he strode to a tree and strained to lift it out of the ground, but to no avail. Believing that the tree must be too firmly rooted into the concrete, he moved onto an adjacent tree, but he couldn't lift this one as well. Throughout the next few minutes, he continued to try and lift tree after tree, yet none of them would give way for him, and by the time he had circled back to the first tree he'd attempted to lift, a light sheen of sweat had covered his frame. Absentmindedly wiping away the perspiration from his brow, he tried his best to hide his fright at his situation, before he turned around on a whim.

Instead of seeing the bloodstained remains of his fight, though, all he could see was a solitary figure standing in the eerily clean clearing in the middle of the thicket.

This figure was nothing like the ones he had seen before; instead of exuding smugness (like the flea) or ill-hidden fright (like the thugs), this one had a dangerously unsettling aura, one that even managed to overshadow his own fearsome one. The mysterious shadow didn't even _look_ remotely human, not with the infinite darkness that it seemed to embody. Even though he could see its flashing maroon eyes, he was scared to look- scared to let his eyes linger in the harsh light shining from it. As he experienced terror for the first time in his life, the all-powerful debt collector cowered before the figure when it turned its eyes upon him and, without a single shred of resistance, he stood still as the dark figure leapt towards him, malice shining in its malevolent eyes.

Under the light of the strangely green moon, the man who once was Shizuo Heiwajima met his end…

* * *

_A scream tore through his mind and, unbeknownst to the dreamer, he responded in kind with a strangled whimper that was torn from his constricting throat. Flicking his eyes open with a harsh gasp for breath, the man fought to dispel the image imprinted on his mind. Those terrified eyes, that fresh stench of blood and the pleasant tearing noise that accompanied the protozoan's disembodiment… the surreal image refused to leave him, even with the abrupt transition from his dreams to reality, and something just _told_ him that he needed to make sure that he was awake. No matter how much he pinched his arms, he still felt as if the dream had been just as real as his awakening._

_Leaping out of bed and hastily throwing on his favourite fur-lined jacket, the ravenette ran towards Ikebukuro, frightened at what he might find yet determined to allay his fears. Momentarily asking himself why he cared so much about knowing if he'd dreamt true and that his favourite pet was truly dead, he dismissed the question from his mind before continuing on. Rushing through the empty expanse of Shinjuku and arriving at the outskirts of the other silent city, he fought to breathe while he blindly ran towards the park in which he'd dreamt about._

_When he reached the entrance to the park, the man hesitated for several instances before deciding to enter the oppressively quiet confines. Shuddering lightly at the muted greens surrounding his form, he was about to dismiss his worries as groundless and leave when a glint caught his attention. Dreading what he would find, but curious to see what had piqued his interest, the crimson-eyed man inched towards the object in his sight, before widening his eyes in horror and disbelief at what lay in front of him._

_There, embedded in the middle of the park, was a highly twisted metal pole. Once upon a time, it might've been a straight and proud 'STOP' sign, but all it stood for now was a warped piece of steel. Swallowing thickly as he approached the solitary structure, his eyes drifted past the blood-splattered components of the pole and quickly snapped past the dangling strip of decaying flesh, before resting on a strange shape lying next to the broken traffic sign._

_With a soundless scream of despair, he fell beside the clump of fake-blonde hair next to the twisted metal and stared unashamedly at the spade-shaped puddle of red that the short strands were lying in. Staring unseeingly at the evidence that his monster was no more, he was found, still on his knees before the strange monument, by the awakening citizens of Ikebukuro. And despite the fact that he was definitely innocent of Shizu-chan's disappearance, he still felt guilty for the other's certain death._

_If that dream was anything to go by, then he could've saved the protozoan from his fate… not that he would do so under normal circumstances, anyhow._

_But at least blaming himself alleviated his growing sense of grudging sorrow for the Neanderthal's death…_

* * *

**A Bloody Disappearance, A Symbolic Monument**

The bustling city of Ikebukuro awoke to the death of one of its most iconic citizens today when an unidentifiable object, presumed to be a twisted traffic sign, was found embedded in the middle of the local park. Blood and hair was found at the scene, with police tersely identifying it to belong to the fortissimo of Ikebukuro, Heiwajima Shizuo.

An associate of the man, who wished to have his name withheld, was also found at the scene, and is currently being treated for minor shock. He was brought in for questioning, but has shed no light on the perturbing disappearance.

Although security forces are currently searching for the missing body, there appears to be little chance of the body being found in the near future. However, when the media attempted to ask police for further information, they had nothing more to say.

This murder has shaken the metropolis and has severely damaged the morale of the population of this city. Many people will mourn the famous man's departure in the state funeral that will be held next week, at an undetermined location.

Police are currently conducting an ongoing search into the cause of this tragedy, but any investigative information will be withheld until all leads are exhausted. If anyone has any evidence regarding the death, please call XXX-XXXX to report it…

* * *

_Locking himself back in the house as soon as he was discharged from hospital, the man shivered in his overly-large bed, too scared to go out and confront the world. Rocking back and forth as he willed himself not to sleep, the man began to hum a strange tune that had been running through him…_

_The first Alice bravely entered Wonderland  
__Cutting all in his way, with his sword in hand  
__After dreaming for some time, he soon became obsessed  
__As he marched through the woods, he came to his arrest  
__Deep into the darkened forest, Alice walked the line  
__Captured and imprisoned for his cruelty and crime  
__If it weren't for the murderous wake he left behind…  
_…_He could have been forgotten, lost from my mind_

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ I apologize for the horribly-written gore (this is my first attempt at this sort of thing, so I have no experience in it despite my countless perusal of horror novels) and the general OOCness of the characters... anyhow, it would be great if you could R&R if time permits, but otherwise please stay tuned for the next chapter~__  
_


	3. Alice, Of Diamonds

**The Second Night: Alice, Of Diamonds**

_Despite his best intentions, the man couldn't stay up for two days without sleep, and it was against his will that he slipped into the dark abyss that was his sleep. He didn't know why he feared to sleep so much now- even as a youth, he was wracked with nightmares and he wouldn't even blink. The death of his monster, though, which corresponded a little too much with his dreams (especially after he found out about the disappearance of a whole coloured gang in Ikebukuro- which was unheard of, if anything), was just on a whole new level of disturbing… but he couldn't fight against his body anymore._

_And besides, he couldn't work while he was yawning every five minutes, so he guessed it was alright to give into his urges for now…_

…_though the russet-streaked sky in his mind was anything but comforting._

* * *

He couldn't believe that his brother was gone; the violent, unpredictable, slightly insane yet highly loving individual that had been the fortissimo of Ikebukuro… Shizuo Heiwajima was dead, though his body still hadn't been found.

Kasuka had been confused when his elder brother hadn't come to their weekly breakfast together on the day of his disappearance- usually, he would walk into the nondescript coffee house that he normally frequented and immediately, he would spot a thin trail of smoke lazily curling out from one of the back tables. However, that fateful day, he had entered to find no comforting presence and no familiar sights- instead, he had been greeted with the newspaper headline gaudily spread across his normal table, as if the world was laughing at his encroaching despair. He had been so depressed that he had skipped the filming for the latest movie he'd been in.

Needless to say, his manager and the production team were furious; despite the fact that he had told them of his grieving for a family member, the outsiders could never understand that he could not just rock up to work and leave his feelings behind. Even though he was renowned in the filming industry as the emotionless wonder that was Yuuhei Hanejima, he could not simply overlook his beloved brother's death and continue on with life, as if it had never changed. It was even a miracle that he could go to work the day after his 24 hours of nonstop crying, but his face had been so swollen that they had to postpone filming for almost half the day before they could continue.

Sighing quietly as he glanced up at the idling afternoon sky, the actor dropped his stoic façade for a few moments as he whispered prayers up to the heavens, where he was sure Shizuo was watching over him. Sniffling a little as he attempted to hold back the floodgates for the umpteenth time, he shook his head silently to dispel the dark thoughts encroaching on him before he turned towards a faint noise behind him. As his eyes adjusted from the bright glare of the sun and realized that his manager had come to tell him that he was due for his production shooting, he sighed quietly to himself again before following the man inside.

As he carefully kept behind his manager and walked firmly down the hallway, the brunette began to feel strangely uneasy. Although the hallway was a familiar one and he could probably walk through it blindfolded due to the amount of times he'd worked in this particular building, he could feel a palpable darkness creeping through the narrow corridor. Shivering a little and rubbing his arms as his skin prickled at the chill settling in, his blank mask slipped again as a granule of irrational fear bloomed in his eyes.

There was nothing discomforting about the surroundings, as far as he was concerned- the only thing that disturbed him was the brown-streaked smoke eddying around him moving form. There were no smoke machines sitting around, so clearly it wasn't someone's weird idea of a prank, but there were no fires outside either, so it probably wasn't an effect of the outside world either. The only logical explanation for its existence, then, was either due to some hallucination on his own part, or it was supernatural… and he didn't like either concept all that much. Shaking his head a little as he continued down the corridor, Kasuka was relieved to find that the smoke had disappeared.

Clearly, then, he had been hallucinating… but why would he dream up something so confusing for?

And why did it feel as if the world was suddenly more surreal than usual?

Glancing around slowly in a subtle display of fright, he was interrupted from his paranoid musings when his manager stopped in his tracks. Nearly colliding into the man as he hurried to stop, the actor mumbled an apology under his breath, before realizing that they were finally at his private dressing room. As he took a deep breath to steady himself, Kasuka waited until his heart had stopped hammering before he pushed the door open to enter the brightly-lit area.

Easing himself into the clothing necessary for the next scene, the brunette silently admired his simple costume (a soft-blue set of pyjamas) before he eased himself into the sole seat in front of his dresser mirror. Keeping himself perfectly still as his make-up artist applied the necessary items to his face, the stoic man was, as usual, amazed by the change that the skilled person wrought onto his features. Instead of seeing his slightly pallid complexion in the reflective metal piece, all he could see was a deathly-pale person with prominent bags under his eyes, as well as several deep wrinkles traversing the entirety of his visage.

In actual fact, he had looked quite a lot like this on a previous night (minus the wrinkles- he was too young for that) when he had cried himself to sleep over his brother's death, but he wasn't going to point that out, for obvious reasons. The depressive look that he now had thanks to his artistic team, coupled with the faint traces of sadness that he still felt, allowed him to sink straight into the character of his latest role in his acting career, a suicidal man, and with a thumbs-up to his make-up artist and wardrobe designer, Kasuka slipped out of his room and made his way to the filming set.

As he calmly walked the short distance to the filming room, where his latest scene would be shot, the stoic brunette was struck by the increasing cold that pierced his body as he continued to make his way to the set. Noting the thin puffs of frost that made itself known as he exhaled, and wincing unconsciously at the curiously auburn tinge that was beginning to encroach on his vision, the small male felt the hair on his neck stiffen as he began to silently panic again. He hadn't noticed that he was at the filming set until a concerned face had emerged into his direct line of sight, and even then it had taken a firm grasp of his shoulders before he could fully regain his senses.

"Yuuhei-sama… is everything alright? It's time to film now…"

Shaking off his depressed disorientation and nodding his thanks at the worried assistant, he assured her that everything was fine before he patted his cheeks lightly. As he straightened up and rubbed the light film of foundation off his hands, the brunette walked through the doors and inclined his head in greeting to the producer and the other members of the production crew. Without too much of a fuss, he was directed into his position as he was filled in on the latest scene that he was appearing in this time.

It was quite ironic how his latest filming role was that of a suicidal man with countless tragedies invading his life, especially since it had been his brother- his late brother, now- who had suggested that he take on this filming role. As someone who normally took on the role of the hero or, well, someone that was generally optimistic, he had been discussing the offer with his understanding brother when he'd been told to go for it. Although he was confused as to why the simplistic debt collector would want him to take on such a complicated and straining role, he felt that he might as well listen to the man who allowed him to get such a wonderful position in life.

So here he was, silently listening as a member of the production crew guided him to his position in the darkly-lit set.

As a person who had lost his job due to corruption, his wife thanks to a scandal and his life thanks to several tragic circumstances, the persona that Kasuka was currently emulating was at the stage of his life where everything was too much. Being the very last scene in the true story of some tragic figure in history, the stoic actor was supposed to be contemplating suicide and, at the very end of the scene, he would pick up the gun he'd been toying with for the better part of the act and then shoot himself with it. Of course, the gun would be loaded with a blank and all he needed to do were deliver a few quiet lines before 'shooting' himself, but he wished… that it wasn't so.

For a crazy split-second, as he glanced directly at the camera and let his fake tears slide down his face, the sorrow-filled brunette fervently wished that he was really going to die, just like his character. He didn't know why he'd suddenly thought of that, seeing as death was one of the things that he was morbidly afraid of, but perhaps it was just the brown smoke billowing in his peripheral or just the heavy weight of the pitch-black gun in his hands- in any case, he really wanted to join his brother in the world that his elder sibling now resided in. Feeling actual tears join the ones that he had forced out of his body, the male brought the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger.

Instead of the dull thud of the blank drumming on his skull, however…

…the brown smoke claimed him for its own as a misplaced projectile burrowed itself into him.

Even before he hit the ground and the smoke cleared to reveal the approving applause of the crew, the second victim was already departing the world in which he was barely clinging to. By the time his production team would realize that their leading actor had died, he would already be gone, off in a place where no living human could ever hope to reach.

The desolate wails of his on-set friends burst forth as his lifeless body lay unmoving, while the russet-streaked sky outside unleashed a howling wind of its own…

* * *

_The howling wind, combined with the screams permeating his mind, jolted the ravenette out of his unwilling slumber and threw him back into the harsh reality in which he lived in. Gasping in fright as he replayed the brown smoke clouding his vision and the severe pain in his left lobe, almost as if he was the person who had died in his dreams, he widened his eyes as he realized that the younger brother of his mortal enemy was now in the same state that Shizu-chan was now in. Clambering out of bed and staggering over to his wide-screen plasma television, he crumpled to his knees in disbelief as breaking news of the famous actor's death streamed forth on every TV channel._

_Pictures of the celebrity were shot 'live' across every station as reporters solemnly warned people of the disturbing nature of the images about to be displayed on their screens. Directing the nation's audience to the frames displaying the irrevocably unmoving form of the man, they zoomed past his odd blue pyjamas before focusing on the diamond-shaped hole in the brunette's skull. Attempting to censor the thick rivulets of blood that was still flowing from the wound, and covering up the cerebral matter that stained the area in which Kasuka lay, he could still envision so very clearly the images that he had seen in his mind. Ignoring the retching noises coming from his unfortunate assistant behind him, and riveting his gaze on the large words now taking up half the screen, the male forced himself to accept the reality that had descended upon him._

_Kasuka Heiwajima, the so-called actor known to the world as 'Yuuhei Hanejima'… was well and truly dead._

_And it was all his fault._

_All. His. Fault._

_Ignoring his normally-rational nature and opting for some sort of oblivion to take his mind off everything, the crimson-eyed man threw himself against the nearest block of furniture available, and blacked out instantly as his thin skull collided with the sharp corner of an innocent ottoman._

* * *

**Curtains Close Over Celebrated Actor**

Still reeling from the shock disappearance of one of the city's most famous individuals, the metropolis of Ikebukuro was struck by a new tragedy as residents were informed of the death of famous actor, Hanejima Yuuhei. Revealed to be dead from an accident at his latest filming experience, the celebrated actor was mourned by many fans as his death was announced.

Coincidentally, the latest victim was revealed to be the younger brother of recent victim Heiwajima Shizuo, and police investigations also uncovered disturbing evidence at the scene. Witnesses present identified the strange behaviour of the deceased individual mere hours before his death, and also testify to seeing a 'strange brown smoke' wreathing his form as he died.

Despite the circumstantial evidence pointing to an accident, security forces are not ruling out foul play in the seemingly-incidental death of one of Japan's most talented movie stars. However, police are classifying the recent death as an accidental incident for the time being.

If there is any evidence suggesting that this is not the case, though, please call XXX-XXXX to report anything to the authorities concerned with this incident…

* * *

_While the unconscious man was taken to hospital and treated for his injuries, his assistant hissed in annoyance at her employer's retarded behaviour before she made her way back home. Along the way home, she glanced up at the darkening skies above her and hummed morbidly to herself as she walked. She didn't know why she hummed it, but she felt the urge to voice the disconcerting words repeating in her mind..._

_The second Alice meekly sang his lovely song in town  
__Wonderland drove him crazy, though, and soon he spiralled down  
__The madness staining his soul bloomed in his song  
__His death by a crazy man did not take all that long  
__Deadly and beautiful, with a voice just like a rose  
__He shot himself and fell down, deceased from bloody blows  
__A single red flower sprouted from his head  
__Admired by all, it withers, and makes clear that he's dead__  
_


	4. Alice, Of Clubs

**The Third Night- Alice, of Clubs**

_By the time he had surfaced from his day-long coma, the ravenette was very much wishing that he was still in a comatose situation, because absolutely nothing- or well, nearly absolutely nothing- could be worse than the boring and sterile conditions of a hospital. Answering the nurse's questions with a failed attempt at masking his indifference for her, he was rewarded for his lack of effort with an annoyed sigh before he found himself being dosed with pain relievers… and sleeping tablets. Before he could even hope to struggle against the clutches of his nightmarish 'prophecies', the man slipped into his sleep and found himself at the next location of the ongoing tragedy._

_Obviously, it wasn't his room or his hospital ward, because it was a completely unfamiliar setting._

_But he did wonder a bit at the empty _nothingness_ that seemed to exist…_

* * *

Masaomi Kida was the type of person that was multi-faceted, and his room was such that it reflected who he was- bright and cheery upon first appearances, but a little dark around the edges when closely observed. Of course, not many people had the privilege of knowing the energetic male all that well, so there was no way that they would be able to inspect his room. At this point in time, though, all the boy had in his mind were happy thoughts devoted to upcoming date with his steady girlfriend, Saki Mikajima, and thus he could not care less about the condition of his room. If anything, his thoughts were filled to the brim with high expectations and childish anticipation.

As he yawned luxuriously and wriggled out of his covers, the boy with mocha-coloured eyes bounded gleefully to his window, before drawing the curtains back with a dramatic gesture. Laughing in pure delight as his face was bathed in the warm morning light, he whistled merrily to himself as he skipped over to his wardrobe and picked out some stylish casual clothing for his long-awaited date. While he rummaged around for something suitable, the happy-looking individual's thoughts were now constituted of something that was anything but happy.

Being a person that had once been the leader of the Yellow Turbans, one of the more famous 'colour gangs' in the metropolis of Ikebukuro, Masaomi had been a person quite far removed from the normality that he joyously relished these days- if anything, he had been at his most depressed state of life for a long time. Not only had he been forced to create a façade in front of his best friend, he had caused several lives to break apart, including his own, and he had been faced with many trials that he would rather have not faced. It had all been the fault of one deceptive ravenette, but it had also been because of him that he had been able to meet his wonderful girlfriend.

Even though he had ended up causing her lengthy hospitalization and then provoked a city-wide gang war due to his selfish actions, he had always been forgiven by the girl that had captured his heart, and it was for that reason that he'd devoted himself to her readily. He still had his flirtatious ways and would occasionally face the disappointment of his beloved, but everything was right with the world, especially when he was able to make up for all the bad actions that he'd done in his past. Right now, life was worth living and that was all that was important to him.

He was just about to finish clipping his earring into his ear when his doorbell rang softly- which was strange, seeing as he wasn't expecting any visitors anytime soon (and the people he knew either had a spare key or knocked). Hurriedly poking his piercing in and holding it in place properly, he quashed the slight annoyance that he felt at the intrusion before easing a sunny smile onto his countenance. When he was done making himself look sufficiently surprised and positive, he unlatched the safety chain hanging off his door- a new addition for added precaution- and opened the door with the appropriate amount of emotion showing on his face.

Unfortunately, the false emotions that he had pulled out slipped off his face as easily as it had been summoned there. Instead of staring at somebody that he knew and could thus shoo away with ease, he was staring at the most beautiful lady he had ever set eyes on.

Noting the tears streaming down her face and staining the plain black pyjamas that the person seemed to be in, Masaomi immediately reverted into his base nature of a playboy as he hurriedly invited her in to ease whatever sorrows she had. Allowing the ravenette to sit down in his sofa as he prepared some soothing tea for her to drink, all thoughts of his girlfriend and his date flew straight out the proverbial window as he busied himself with this enchanting beauty. It never quite crossed his mind that he should've got to know his neighbours better so that he knew how to address the sobbing female in front of him, but that thought joined his other ones outside when he found himself staring into the disconcertingly ebony eyes of his mysterious guest.

As a faint blush crept up his face and settled on the tips of his ears at the strangely vulnerable look that the unknown woman gave him, he set down the tea beside her and bent down so he was at her face level, before he silently awaited the woman to speak. It took a long silence and some shuffling from his guest before the fake blonde could get any sort of articulate response from her, but by the time he realized that she was speaking, all he could hear was the desperate plea in her tone and the puppy-dog eyes that she was casting on him. Instantly, all his promises about keeping himself for his girlfriend and her _only_ were forgotten, and with a comforting smile, he wrapped her arms around the mysterious female and allowed her to sob onto his shoulder.

However, as he did so, he felt an odd noise and a strange sensation in his abdomen as the woman murmured in a rather dark tone:

"Ah, aren't you just a nice little boy, Masaomi Kida…"

Before he felt himself fade into unconsciousness and allowed the woman to scoop him up in her arms. Just before the darkness consumed him, though, he was dimly aware of the odd patches of nothingness that were invading his vision, as well as the notion that he was being carried towards an unknown place. Strangely enough, he was also aware of the familiar-looking ravenette floating a few centimetres away, just barely out of his reach…

* * *

_Powerless to help his subordinate and watching with heightened concern as the unconscious male was taken out of his room, the conscience of the ravenette attempted to force the strange lady to leave his employee alone, but all he succeeded in doing was thrashing around on the bed as he continued down the nightmarish path he had been forced onto. Moaning as he lay in the hospital bed, he continued his dreams rather against his will. Even with the appearance of two small figures next to the sterilized surface that he was lying on, the crimson-eyed man could do nothing but await the horrible end that this boy was surely going to face…_

* * *

The boy came to himself, still groggy and confused, in an unfamiliar setting that vaguely reminded him of somewhere- unfortunately for him, though, the more he attempted to remember where he was, the more the knowledge slipped away. Sighing resignedly and giving up on his fruitless efforts, Masaomi lightly slapped his cheeks to try wake himself up, but strangely enough, he was stopped by the presence of a soft hand on one of his outstretched palms.

With a visible effort to stay calm and fight off the panic that he was feeling, the fake blonde turned to his left to demand information about whatever the heck was going on, when he was stopped abruptly by his mind. Staring in complete confusion at the familiar brunette next to him, he continued to linger in the depths of his puzzlement until the soft smile of his girlfriend- for it seemed to be her beside him- assured him that nothing was wrong. As he felt tears pricking in his eyes in relief and happiness, he felt his beloved Saki hug him comfortingly, before he finally pulled himself together enough to ask her what was going on.

According to her straightforward recount of the events from her perspective, she had been on her way to their designated meeting-place for their long awaited date when she had seen an odd figure out of the corner of her eye. As she still had time left before the arranged time, she decided to stalk the figure, and it didn't take long for her to realize that the black-haired female had caught her eye for more than just her astonishingly dark figure; she was also holding her beloved boyfriend (i.e. him) in her arms. Following her to a more deserted place, she had quickly disabled the odd woman and carried him away, but found that he was a little too heavy for her to carry to a more convenient location. She had just set him down in an abandoned apartment barely ten metres from where she had rescued him when he had woken up.

By the time his girlfriend was done with her recount, Masaomi could feel more tears pricking his eyes at the heroic tale. Redoubling his efforts to hug her and then attempting to thank her for saving him, he was immediately rebuffed with a hard poke to his head and a laughing reminder of the fact that he was squeezing her rather tightly, before he sheepishly let her go. However, instead of helping up his girlfriend so that they could continue their date, he heard an ear-piercing scream from behind him, where he'd vaguely noted the door to be.

Turning around with a query on his lips, all the questions he'd been meaning to ask died down in his throat when he realized that there was an unknown figure at the door. Acting out of pure instinct and reacting to the animosity that he perceived in the shadowy figure, he picked up the closest thing at hand, a strange green poker with a clover design on one end, before he smashed the decorated end into the other person's forehead. Just as he did this, though, a fog seemed to clear from his mind and he finally realized that he'd been hallucinating all that time.

Instead of finding himself attacking the person that he thought was a threat to him, he found himself staring dumbly into the rapidly-fading eyes of his girlfriend. Glancing down at himself and slowly figuring out that he was covered in some sort of odd rusty substance, the overpowering stench of blood reached his nose and he finally realized that he was covered in blood- which wasn't only from the dying person in front of him. By the time he had taken in the fact that he was in a deserted room with myriads of other deceased figures… his mind had already broken down from the sudden trauma.

As the umpteenth dead body slumped at his feet, the boy wailed brokenly at the piles of dead women strewn around his insane form, and began to claw at the nothingness that was taking over his vision…

* * *

_Screaming at the sensory overload that he had received from the nightmare he'd been forced into this time around, the ravenette jolted up in his hospital bed, before continuously voicing the horror he felt at the graphic images of death that he had seen. By the time the nurses and his unexpected visitors (his younger twin sisters) had managed to calm him down sufficiently to figure out what was going on with him, they were forced to sedate him when they made sense of his babbling and diagnosed it as nonsense. However, scarcely had they knocked the unfortunate being out before the twins crept out to confirm the story for themselves._

_When they reached the location that their elder brother had agonizingly wailed out, they were struck by the perfect correlation that their Iza-nii's dream had with what lay before them. After they escaped the tortured soul that had mistaken them as another foe to be killed, they quickly called the authorities and witnessed the wide-scale panic that came again, thanks to the continued stream of killings. As they went back to comfort their sleeping sibling, the twins wondered about the odd coincidence and came to a startling conclusion._

_Of course, they couldn't confirm it until their brother woke up, but they were intent on knowing whether their theory was right. After all, it was horrible seeing their brother suffer and they wished that they could remove the haunted look from their spirited Iza-nii before he, too, collapsed…_

* * *

**Horrendous Serial Murders Pinned On Insane Boy**

The disappearance of various women throughout the month have finally been solved when police were tipped of the location of a slaughter-room. At the scene, they found, along with the mutilated corpses of several women, the wailing figure of an insane boy, who is widely believed to be the perpetrator of the atrocities. The authorities were able to identify the boy as Masaomi Kida, a drop-out from the prestigious Raira Academy.

Oddly enough, close friends and relatives of the insane individual were able to testify that he had connections to the deceased Heiwajima siblings, Kasuka and Shizuo, and although police are not revealing any information regarding these testimonies, the public has been led to believe that their deaths may have been caused by the same individual that is being charged with homicide.

Due to the highly unstable mental state that the boy was discovered to be in, the courts have ruled him unfit to face punishment due to complete insanity, and have instructed him to be confined to a mental institution for the rest of his life. Police are still investigating the incidents, but so far have come up with no new information. Strangely enough, they also do not know of the identities of the people that have tipped them off to the murder.

If any member of the public has information regarding the homicidal murders or the identity of potential witnesses that could help with the ongoing investigation, please contact XXX-XXXX…

* * *

_The ravenette was finally ready for his hospital release in the days following the Ikebukuran uproar, and he, along with his devoted sisters, were allowed to visit the incarcerated lunatic, due to his status as the boy's former employer. As they approached the silent figure at the end of the hallway, the smallest of the siblings asked:_

"_Iza-nii, you dreamt of this, didn't you? You were that witness that foretold Shizuo's disappearance, and you also realized that Masaomi was the killer, right? So basically speaking, you can identify all the horrible events that have been going on because of those dreams of yours, so you should tell us what you saw so we can help you out, ne~?"_

"_Peace… depression…" (Quiet, Mairu, you're going to make Iza-onii-sama sad…)_

"_Ne, you girls are just too smart for your own good- but now that you know, promise me that you'll leave all this alone, okay? Pro-"_

_The siblings were cut off when an eerie humming reached their ears, and it took a while for them to figure out that the music was drifting from the cell in front of them. Approaching the bars and looking straight into the deranged stare of the insane individual, they tactfully kept their distance as the crazy individual sang discordantly:_

_The third Alice was a well-loved, well-known charming boy  
__Wonderland adored him too, and its town became his toy  
__All the people that he knew followed every demand  
__Soon enough, the people had brought low their land  
__Paranoia set in and soon he wanted more  
__Tearing his world apart, he soon began a war  
__Poisoned by his mind and dead to the world  
__The crazy monarch's mind collapsed and insanity unfurled__  
_

* * *

**_A/N: _**_Just in case people are confused with the lay-out of the chapters in the fanfic, I've added an edit to the second chapter (i.e. the First Night [Alice, Of Spades]) explaining the whole text/alignment thing. Otherwise, there's really nothing else to say other than copious apologies for the weirdness of this story~_


	5. Alice, Of Hearts

**The Fourth Night- Alice, Of Hearts**

_As the siblings left their insane companion to sing strangely to himself, the ravenette wondered if, finally, the horrors were going to end- since there hadn't been a death this time around, perhaps his nightmarish curse was going to fade. Skipping a little at the thought and startling his younger twin sisters, the male soon parted ways with them and tripped back home. However, once he entered the monochromatic confines of his luxurious apartment, tiredness began to conquer him and, with a slightly less frightened air, he embraced the darkness. After all, he was fine now, wasn't he?_

_But if he was… then what was with the darkened arena that his mind had conjured for him…?_

* * *

Ever since their idol's brother had mysteriously disappeared, Mairu and Kururi Orihara had been avidly following the curious occurrences in their city- from formal police investigations to public gossip channels, and anything in between. The death of their idol, however, sparked their complete obsession with the happenings, to the point that they had aided the discovery of the third tragedy. Although they were fixed upon figuring out the connection between the deaths, they had been surprised at the identity of the connection to the trio of deaths; namely, that their brother had somehow been the predictor of all these things. After all, he was found at the first crime scene, was hospitalized from a severe concussion immediately after the second crime, and then had been sedated after rambling on, at length, about the third crime.

It was safe to say, for the Orihara twins, that their Iza-nii seemed to be the instigator of all these problems. And from their observance of him, they realized that his nightmarish dreams seemed to be the indicator of the next death; actually, to the imaginative siblings, they couldn't remove the possibility that their elder brother might even be the _cause_ of these odd occurrences. In any case, it was about time that they investigated their brother and figure out exactly what was going on.

Unfortunately, they were not able to come up with anything useful from the slippery informant; straight after their visit to their former online friend, Byakura-san (or, to be more exact, Masaomi Kida), they had been forced to part ways with their overly-tired sibling and had attempted to tail him back home, only to become distracted by the appearance of some lecherous men. By the time they had dealt with them, their brother had slipped away and, after a lot of general queries and guesswork, they finally arrived at where he was supposed to be: at his Shinjuku apartment.

As they had caught the lift to their elder brother's apartment, they could hear an eerie voice echoing around them, almost as if it was daring them to continue forth:

_Two children dared to walk the path through the wood  
__Passing by the rose bush, avoiding it as they should  
__They drew out the ace of hearts and wondered if they'd see  
__Wonderland's depths and its insanity…?_

* * *

_Despite the fact that he was trapped in this latest nightmare, the ravenette was able to sense an intrusion into his apartment, and before he could even hope to figure out who was bold enough to barge into his living quarters, the arena of his dreams lit up in a dazzling manner. Shielding his eyes as crimson pupils dilated, he soon realized that his mind was conjuring up people again. However, these people were a little too familiar for his liking; after all, he did not want his twin sisters to be involved, because they deserved a better life away from his twisted influence._

_The strange thing that struck him was not their appearance- if anything, he had been expecting them to be up-to-date with all the information on the crime and then link all the occurrences to him sooner or later. What startled him, though, was the appearance of Celty's head in his mind…_

* * *

As soon as the twins had broken into Iza-nii's apartment (which wasn't all that hard, thanks to the training that they had gotten from said brother), they were struck by the strange sensation that they could feel ringing in their very beings. Unconsciously sticking closer to one another as they ventured into the soulless living quarters that belonged to their elder sibling, the girls were confused by the random spot of colour on a nearby bookshelf- namely, the yellow heart-shaped plushie that they could faintly see behind a few books. Pulling the volumes of unintelligible text away and revealing the plushie, they were a little startled to find a disembodied head in a canister next to it, but ignored it in favour of picking up the heart.

When their outstretched fingers brushed against the faintly-glowing object, though, all thoughts ceased as they were knocked unconscious momentarily. Upon being awoken mere moments later, though, Mairu and Kururi found themselves in a place entirely different to the monochromatic room in which they had once been in; rather, they were now in some sort of strange arena. Shielding their eyes from the spotlight and glancing furtively around at the stands, they could spot absolutely nobody- when they turned back to the arena itself, though, a figure made itself known to them. Immediately, however, the Orihara twins knew that something was wrong.

One did not simply find disembodied heads floating around in the real world.

With increasing curiosity and slight confusion, the girls stared for a minute before speaking at once:

"Kuru-nee, wasn't that the disembodied brunette that we saw earlier? I swear that it was securely contained in a canister filled with suspicious semi-viscous liquid and not floating around though… perhaps we are hallucinating or this really is the instigator of the nightmares that Iza-nii had. If that's the case, we must be trapped in its dimensions and as such negotiate for our family's release. This is going to be hard, though, seeing as I have no experience with these things, but you could help me, ne, my dear sister~?"

"…Shock…doubt…" (This is truly an amazing sight, but there is probably no chance of us outwitting it)

Before they could prattle on any further, though, a single spotlight illuminated a figure that they had missed in the empty arena. As their eyes adjusted and the Orihara twins realized that, oddly enough, their elder brother was in the arena as well (though, thankfully enough, he was not in the central ring with them- otherwise, who knew what he would do upon discovering their intrusion on his dreams), the strange head hovering a few metres from them finally spoke up. The three siblings focused their attention on the ethereal being as it quietly murmured:

"Shall we… play a game, humans?"

Immediately, Mairu piped up with an incredibly excited:

"Is this what I think it is? I'm not sure what to call you, Ms Floating Head, but your intentions are probably to play an endgame to either end your unknown misery at the hands of our nefarious brother or release our brother from your forced misery upon him. It could also be that you merely wish to test us for some unknown reason or capture us for the furthered torture of our dear Iza-nii, but for your information, I don't think he is really that weak, you know? Actually, now that I really think about it, he has never really been able to prevent the incidents that you yourself probably instigated and ergo he must only be a spectator for this, so no matter what happens he cannot interfere. Well, aren't you just the most innovative being I've ever met~?"

"Quiet…" (Shut up, I want to know what the head has to say)

Lapsing into silence and all but forgetting about the presence of their brother in their shared dream- because, clearly, this was nothing but a dream- the twins awaited the reply of the silent being before them. Just as they were about to dismiss the other as mute for the time being and make their own way out of this odd mental state that they were trapped in, the incorporeal brunette floating before them sighed slightly and cracked open its mesmerizingly-green eyes, before it whispered:

"The game is quite simple… win, and your foolish human can desire whatever they will of me… but lose, and he shall perish while the two of you float in your own darkness forever… you could also simply leave your brother to me and escape, provided that you can forget all these memories and never recall them again… but you will probably not do that, will you…"

"I'm sure Kuru-nee and I can agree that we will never leave our brother at your hands- pardon me, it appears as if you do not possess any at the current stage- and before we start, the two of us would like to query a small detail that we couldn't help but notice. If you could be so kind as to mention the rules of the activity in which we must participate in then that would be much obliged- and whatever the circumstances, we'd also like to make sure that Iza-nii will be kept physically and mentally sound, if that is at all possible. If these two conditions can be met, then we shall throw ourselves heartily into the event for which you have presented us with~"

"Affirmative…" (I wholeheartedly agree with my sister)

"The rules… I shall announce upon your agreement to forfeit your souls for the duration of the contest… and I will guarantee that lamented human's physical integrity but not necessarily his mental integrity…"

"Ah, there was never a straight path to rhyme and reason, nor is there ever a bed of roses awaiting each individual and their particular constructs in the belated journey of life and existence. Although the floating head did not grant anything that we so very desired, Kuru-nee, will you affirm that we have no choice but to rescue our dear brother from his torture, despite the odds against us~? We have been taught well and thus I would suppose that we stand a chance against this confusing individual, so let us combine our faculties and be the knights in shining armour for our belated Iza-nii"

"Affirmative…" (Let's go save Iza-onii-sama then…)

As the spotlight in the twins' peripheral dimmed and disappeared, the beacon focused on the central stage in the arena intensified in its brightness and the Orihara sisters were well aware of the fear that threatened to swallow them whole. Firmly gripping each other's hands and resolving to save their brother from his otherwise-inevitable fate at the hands of this cruel being, Mairu and Kururi shared in one final passionate kiss as the game's rules were monotonously read out to them.

Even if they should perish, at least they could do it together…

* * *

_Scream after scream tore through the malnourished ravenette's body as he witnessed the loss of the ghoulish game in which his sisters had participated in. As he violently surfaced from his dream and awoke to hear simultaneous 'thumps' close by, he hurried out of his bedroom and raced through his house, before stumbling upon the inert figures of his sisters. Steeling himself for what he might find, he turned the two sleeping girls over… and met the blank white stares of his younger siblings' expressionless eyes. Barely realizing that they were in a permanently vegetative state, he glanced up from his agonized perusal of his comatose sisters before he locked gazes with the perpetrator of his nightmares and the source of all his grief- the cursed Dullahan's head._

_As something in the back of his mind snapped and a piercing shriek tore through his lips, the empty gaze of the supernatural being before him sent his mind spiralling into the depths of his sorrow. Just before he could succumb to the welcoming darkness that was beckoning him, a faint sentence echoed through his devastated mind:_

"_Bring me… back to my body…"_

_And with those six small words, the informant collapsed and knew no more…_

* * *

**Comatose Siblings Discovered In Shinjuku**

Two siblings, later identified by the authorities as twins Orihara Mairu and Orihara Kururi, were discovered in a comatose state in an uptown apartment in Shinjuku after neighbours were alerted to their presence earlier in the afternoon. Witnesses claimed that repeated screaming from the top level of the building caused concern in the residents and led to the horrific discovery.

The girls were later acknowledged as the mysterious witnesses that alerted police to the activities of the insane homicidal murderer, Kida Masaomi, and were also found to be good friends to deceased siblings Heiwajima Shizuo and Heiwajima Kasuka. Although there is no obvious indications of foul play, medical staff have noted the coincidentally identical states in which the girls were found in.

Although authorities are unwilling to give any information out pending the full inquiry into the incident, the media has been told that the owner of the apartment, Orihara Izaya, is wanted for questioning over his younger sisters' vegetative states. He is also wanted for questioning about his connection to the four unusual criminal cases that have occurred recently, as there is evidence suggesting that he has some sort of connection to all the people involved.

If there is any information regarding the whereabouts of the man in question or the ongoing investigation, please call XXX-XXXX immediately…

* * *

_As the city of Ikebukuro settled into an uncomfortable state of rest, the mocking lilt of an eerie tone floated through a few frightened individual's ears. While the city attempted to reconcile with the horrific events the past few weeks had brought for it, the voice resonated, unheard to most:_

_The fourth Alice were a duo of curiosity  
__They stumbled into Wonderland and all its beauty  
__Exploring all the countless doors the strange country had  
__The siblings wandered in and out drove themselves quite mad  
__A silent elder sister, a smarter younger one as well  
__The two girls nearly triumphed but they were caught up in the spell…  
__Eternally they wander the depths of their demise  
__Lost in their broken world, forever deemed unwise__  
_

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ I guess this is the end of the story... now all that's left is the epilogue and this shall be finished off~ This chapter was a bit random and the next one is even more so I guess I've got to apologize for those as well (seems like I'm doing a lot of apologizing for this story lately, ne...). Anyhow, please comment if time permits and tell me how this story sits with you, as a reader; it would be greatly appreciated~_


	6. Alice, Emergence

**The Night After- Alice, Emergence**

His mind was broken and his heart had shattered into smithereens; unfortunately, though, Izaya was nowhere close to gaining any sort of solace. In the confused expanse that had once been his keen mind, the tiny voice of twisted reason that he still had left nagged at him to desist from his mental delusions and get back to life, but it was ignored in favour of the incessant mumbling in his mind. All the former genius could think about was the sole mission he had in life; namely, that of returning the canister he had in his hands back to its rightful owner. Despite his thirst for immortality and his belief that the object in his hands could grant it, the events of the past month were more than enough to assure him that his dreams were never going to happen. If his nightmares were anything to go by, then it was obvious that, no matter what he did, he would still end up with nothing.

Shivering as the chilly Ikebukuran winds blew against his otherwise-unmoving form, the former informant hugged the cylindrical shape he had in his arms towards himself, as if his irrational mind willed for the thing to exude some warmth to comfort him. As he glanced down, for the umpteenth time, at the heavy item in his hands and confirmed that it was securely wrapped in the layers of cloth he'd hastily thrown over it mere hours ago, the ravenette hunkered down on the rooftop and began to replay the images that had been running through his head ever since the night before, when he had woken up for the final time to the realization of yet another cursed dream.

The expressionless faces of his sisters, and the white expanse of their unseeing, vegetative eyes.  
The triumphant gleam in the disembodied brunette, and the pure malice he still could feel from it.  
The haunted look in his eyes, as he'd caught a glimpse of himself fleeing from his own apartment.  
The frightened glances his beloved humans threw about, as they searched for him tirelessly.  
All those deaths that he himself had caused; all that fear, and sorrow, and anger.  
All the misery he had wrought from his selfish pursuits.

How had he never realized that it had all been in vain, that his self-centred goal for immortality and the universal reciprocation of his love for humankind could be so very empty and unachievable? He had never really been a person to be held back by his desires, and he freely admitted that he was a selfish creature that lived for his own personal gains; for that very reason, he had been sure to keep his distance from everyone, calling himself a 'god' whose sovereign duty was to manipulate the sad little lives of the humans he saw. He had never formed any close ties; the closest thing he had to any sort of non-universal love was the annoyed curiosity that he felt towards his little sisters, and the amused hatred that he felt towards the only human he could never perfectly control. Everyone had been treated in a high-handed, arrogant manner, and that had been how he lived his life.

All that had ended, though, when his misdeeds caught up to him in the form of that Dullahan.

Now, all he could do was cower in the dark and the cold as his humans lived their lives, fully aware of the demise of the Shinjuku informant but completely unaware of the proximity their self-professed deity had towards them. He had no family, for they were either estranged or effectively dead; he had no friends, for he had never considered humans to be worthy of his friendship and those who had been self-styled friends of his were either unaware of his predicament or too far gone to care; he didn't even have a life anymore, or one that he recognised as an existence worth acknowledging.

The only thing he had, as he experienced the lowest point of his insignificant existence on the cruel world that he was placed on, was the odd determination that stemmed from the cursed being wrapped up in his arms. Perhaps his mind reasoned that his life would set itself up again when he had obeyed the supernatural evil that clung onto him, or perhaps he was just sick and tired, and wished everything to be over; whatever the reason for his actions, he was now mere metres from the rightful owner of the head in his possession, and the owner was mere minutes away from receiving what was rightfully hers. With a sigh, crimson eyes flickered dully from their deadpan stare on the concrete floor to the dark entrance beckoning him a few steps away, and without too much of a fuss, the male staggered upright and made his way over to the yawning chasm before him.

It was time to finish his final job…

* * *

_She could not believe it; she had finally won. After the decades she had spent separated from her other half, she was finally going to be reunited with herself and return to her normal life, without fear of any human interference. It had been hard for her to treat such a pitiful being with so much cruelty, but it was the only way that she could become whole again. The foolish human had been unwilling to let her go to begin with, so this had been the only method. Her pure reason, the one that wished for her former existence, more than justified the means to which she went through._

_Although she had felt regret in involving the individuals that were so very unfortunately connected to her captor, the head was perversely glad for the hurt and suffering that he had gone through as a result of her interference with the human's dreams and realities. She did not like to cause pain to people, and she knew that her actions were unforgivable, but this was the only way that she could get back her life. And besides, what was she doing, attempting to justify her actions to herself? She was in the right, and he was in the wrong- that was reason enough for her harsh interference._

_As she faintly sensed the movement emanating from the broken human that had dared to control her for his own stupid and selfish gains, the brunette was pleased to note that she could 'feel' her other self much closer now, closer than her body had ever been in the decades of separation the head had endured. Ignoring the retreating presence of the hated human that she had so mercilessly broken, and feeling her proverbial insides singing with joy at being distanced from the horrid existence that had held her captive for so long, she felt a thrill course through her at the proximity she had towards her body- after all, she was nearly there. She was nearly home._

_Feeling a familiar presence pick up the transparent cage that she was stuck in, and nearly bursting with excitement as she was held close to her other half, the disembodied object known as Celty Sturluson kept very, very still as she sensed the layers being taken off her modern confines. Relishing the 'sight' of her body trembling in the same sort of excitement as the two halves met for the first time in a long time, the brunette smiled slightly before flickering her forest-green eyes open._

_Ah, today was a wonderful day indeed. She was finally whole again…_

* * *

**_A/N: _**_Yep, that's pretty much it from me. I'll just end with an apology for the weird ending, because I knew how to end this but ended up blurting out some weird shadow of the ending I had imagined so I just hope that the emotions conveyed are right and that people will forgive me for the horribly short epilogue. Until then, thank you so much for reading and please review if the time permits... and I hope you've enjoyed my little songfic~_


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